University of Central Florida STARS Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2004-2019 2006 A Common Component-based Software Architecture For Military And Commercial Pc-based Virtual Simulation Joshua Lewis University of Central Florida Part of the Engineering Commons Find similar works at: https://stars.library.ucf.edu/etd University of Central Florida Libraries http://library.ucf.edu This Doctoral Dissertation (Open Access) is brought to you for free and open access by STARS. It has been accepted for inclusion in Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2004-2019 by an authorized administrator of STARS. For more information, please contact [email protected]. STARS Citation Lewis, Joshua, "A Common Component-based Software Architecture For Military And Commercial Pc- based Virtual Simulation" (2006). Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2004-2019. 894. https://stars.library.ucf.edu/etd/894 A COMMON COMPONENT-BASED SOFTWARE ARCHITECTURE FOR MILITARY AND COMMERCIAL PC-BASED VIRTUAL SIMULATION by JOSHUA LEWIS B.S.A.S. LeTourneau University, 2001 M.S.E. Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, 2002 A dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the Department of Modeling and Simulation in the College of Engineering and Computer Science at the University of Central Florida Orlando, Florida Summer Term 2006 Major Professor: Michael D. Proctor © 2006 Joshua Lewis ii ABSTRACT Commercially available military-themed virtual simulations have been developed and sold for entertainment since the beginning of the personal computing era. There exists an intense interest by various branches of the military to leverage the technological advances of the personal computing and video game industries to provide low cost military training. By nature of the content of the commercial military-themed virtual simulations, a large overlap has grown between the interests, resources, standards, and technology of the computer entertainment industry and military training branches. This research attempts to identify these commonalities with the purpose of systematically designing and evaluating a common component-based software architecture that could be used to implement a framework for developing content for both commercial and military virtual simulation software applications. iii TABLE OF CONTENTS LIST OF FIGURES ......................................................................................................................viii LIST OF TABLES..........................................................................................................................ix LIST OF ACRONYMS ..................................................................................................................xi 1. INTRODUCTION .......................................................................................................................1 Component-Based Software Architecture ...................................................................................1 PC-Based Virtual Simulation ......................................................................................................4 Research Area..............................................................................................................................6 2. REVIEW OF RELATED PROJECTS AND LITERATURE ...................................................10 Strategy for Common Use: Reuse .............................................................................................10 Microsoft Flight Simulator....................................................................................................10 Falcon 4.0 .............................................................................................................................11 Steel Beasts............................................................................................................................12 Advantages of Reuse .............................................................................................................13 Drawbacks to Reuse..............................................................................................................14 Strategy for Common Use: Contracted Development ...............................................................15 Spearhead II..........................................................................................................................15 Real War................................................................................................................................16 Advantages of Contracted Development ...............................................................................17 Drawbacks to Contracted Development ...............................................................................17 Strategy for Common Use: Adaptation .....................................................................................18 Doom to Marine Doom .........................................................................................................19 Jane’s USAF to Airbook........................................................................................................20 The Unreal Engine and America’s Army ..............................................................................21 Strengths of Adaptation.........................................................................................................23 Drawbacks to Adaptation......................................................................................................24 Research Through Collaboration at the ICT..............................................................................25 Component-Based Modeling and Simulation............................................................................27 Questions Being Asked .............................................................................................................28 Argument for a Common Component-Based Software Architecture........................................29 Description of a New Strategy ..............................................................................................29 Solution to Previous Weaknesses ..........................................................................................30 iv Further Strengths / Benefits ..................................................................................................31 3. METHODOLOGY ....................................................................................................................32 Research Concept ......................................................................................................................32 Phase I: Analysis .......................................................................................................................33 Structured Interviews ............................................................................................................34 Factor Identification .............................................................................................................39 Issue Generation ...................................................................................................................40 Phase II: Design and Documentation of the Architecture .........................................................41 Solution and Strategy Development ......................................................................................41 Component Identification......................................................................................................43 Connector Identification .......................................................................................................43 Component-Connector Relationships ...................................................................................44 Phase III: Implementation of Prototypes ...................................................................................45 Requirements for Prototype 1: Putt-putt...............................................................................46 Requirements for Prototype 2: Pac-Bot Trainer...................................................................46 Architectural Requirements for the Prototypes.....................................................................47 Phase IV: Evaluation ................................................................................................................48 Step 1: Verification of the Prototypes ..................................................................................49 Step 2: Evaluation of Strategy Implementation....................................................................50 Step 3: Validation of the Architecture..................................................................................51 Contribution of the Research.....................................................................................................52 4. RESULTS ..................................................................................................................................54 Phase I Results: Analysis...........................................................................................................54 Interviews ..............................................................................................................................54 Factors ..................................................................................................................................55 Issues.....................................................................................................................................57